Beta
Jump to info about the most recent beta. In order to get useful and realistic feedback from real users, some software companies deliver pre-release software (a beta or beta trial) to a select number of users to try it out and report bugs, make suggestions, or just give significant customers clear evidence of the state of the product and dispel rumors of vaporware. What is a beta? In terms of the software development, beta is usually the stage where all major feature implementation should be finished and the software is in the phase of bug fixing, refinement and stabilization before declaring a Final or Release candidate (sometimes called "Gold" as well). Sometimes major changes occur in this stage, but usually only in response to feedback during a beta trial. Beta, of course, comes after the Alpha stage where major feature implementation usually occurs, is known to be unstable, and not generally fit for anything more than internal trial of carefully selected users. The stage before Alpha some call "Pre-Alpha", "Proof of Concept", or "Prototype". These stages are semi-formal within the software industry, so "your results may vary". What Blizzard says about betas Closed vs. Open beta The terms "closed beta" and "open beta" are also used when referring to the actual beta trial period of testing. The usage of these terms is not consistent, but the following definitions can be used as a guideline: * Closed beta - Only a selected group of users are invited to the beta trial with varying criteria. Some closed betas are very restrictive and others are tied to a promotion or some other easily obtainable criteria (like purchasing the Annual Pass). Invitation, of course, is not guaranteed. * Open beta - This is basically a trial which is usually only restricted by the need to download the software and go through some sort of registration process. Users may be required to meet some minimum hardware and software requirements, but usually nothing needs to be paid for or membership in a special group needed. Reporting bugs Summary of a good WoW Insider article. |date=9-Apr-2012 2:00PM}} ;Top bugs worth reporting # Game crashes # Holes in the terrain # Quest bugs # UI bugs # Camera errors ;Other bugs # Class spells or abilities is behaving erratically # Grammatical errors in quests # NPC is speaking gibberish or behaving oddly ;Bugs not worth reporting Not in the WoW Insider article. # Bugs already listed as "known issues" Sapperwix|accessdate=9-Apr-2012}} # Stuff with names like "something needs a name" or "TBD", etc. # Login problems during announced or known server maintenance periods (usually announced on official forums, launcher news, Twitter, etc.). # Problems widely reported in official status forums and Warcraft news sites (unless it is reported as hard to repro and you have a consistent way to repro the problem). How will you know if you have access to the Beta? Here is what it looks like in Blizzard account settings when you have access to the Beta (the bottom entry is presumably for the Beta): Here is what your Blizzard desktop app will make available when you have World of Warcraft selected as the game and a Beta client accessible (i.e. Battle for Azeroth): Battle.net desktop app Battle for Azeroth No plans were announced to give broad access to the Battle for Azeroth beta, but the expansion appears to have entered this phase in late April 2018.File:BlizzAppBfABeta.png As of build 26871, pre-patch PTR build and Beta appear to be basically the same client. Legion No plans were announced to give broad access to the Legion beta. As of early-May 2016, Legion still appears to be in alpha (not all specs are playable and many quests are not finished). The beta was announced and confirmed to start on May 12, 2016. Players already in the Alpha will stay in the Beta. SeTec9 (Jared Gillis|date=11-May-2016 8:37 PM}} Status infographics Legion Beta servers Warlords of Draenor Cards for closed Beta invites were given out at the conference in April 2014. The Closed Beta (invite only) was announced to start Friday, June 27, 2014 with servers to be up at 2 PM PDT. Warlords of Draenor Beta servers Warlords of Draenor Beta invite waves ;Initial * The first wave of invites went out on June 27, 2014 to coincide with the Beta start announcement. No number was given for how many. ;PAX invite cards * These keys were enabled in the afternoon of June 27, 2014. Mists of Pandaria A closed beta test period was announced on March 20, 2012 with invites going to Annual Pass holders, press, fansites, friends and family, and opt-in beta testers. MMO Champion may have gotten access soon after the opt-in announcement and an official announcement of the start of the Beta was released late March 21st, 2012. Level 85 Monk premades were made available on April 8th, 2012 (around Patch 5.0.1 build 15544). A 64-bit client for Windows (WoW-64.exe) was quietly downloaded with build 15640 of the that was noticed by some users and clarified by an . The key difference between this test release and previous Live and PTR releases was that it was installed with Lancher and did not have to be installed manually. Bluspacecow predicted correctly that a 64-bit Mac OS X client (World of Warcraft-64.app) would be available with build 15657. Bluspacecow|date=1-May-2012 1:05 PM}} Experience required for leveling changed Circa build 15961, according to MMO Champion: AddOns in Mists of Pandaria Beta Since the first beta release (build 15464), AddOns have been disabled. Nethaera|date=22-Mar-2012 8:12 PM|bluequote= Addons are currently disabled in the beta. It's important that we do this so that we can tell the difference between a client error and an addon error. We'll notify everyone when we're at the point that we enable them again.}} However, a blue post reports that AddOns are planned to be enabled after build 15781. Vaeflare|date=27-Jun-2012 10:00 AM|bluequote= Starting with the next Mists of Pandaria beta build, we plan to enable the use of UI addons.}} Mists of Pandaria Beta servers Logging in if PTR on account already The Mists of Pandaria beta servers use the same authentication portal as the PTR servers so you may be given the unexpected choice to login as either "wow1" or "wow2" accounts. If you see this choice, select "wow2" assuming you setup your PTR account first. File:Login scn account dropdown Beta15589.png File:Login scn account select Beta15589.png Mists of Pandaria Beta invite waves ;Annual Pass From March 29th, 2012 to April 19th, 2012, 1.2 million Battle.net accounts were given invites to the Beta based on Annual Pass signups. Here are the six waves and the number of accounts added in each wave: * First wave of 100,000 on March 29th, 2012. Bashiok|date=29-Mar-2012 8:20 PM}} * Second wave of 100,000 on March 30th, 2012. Bashiok|date=30-Mar-2012 3:25 PM}} * Third wave of 100,000 later on March 30th, 2012. Bashiok|date=30-Mar-2012 9:31 PM}} * Fourth wave of 250,000 on April 4th, 2012. Bashiok|date=4-Apr-2012 5:49 PM}} * Fifth wave of 250,000 on April 11th, 2012. Kaivax|date=11-Apr-2012 7:48 PM}} * Sixth and mostly final wave of 400,000 on April 19th, 2012. Bashiok|date=19-Apr-2012 1:51 PM}} ;Post Annual Pass Around May 24th, 2012, WoW Insider reported that those who expressed interest (US, EU) in a beta on their Battle.net account will start getting invites. |date=24-May-2012 5:45PM}} Cataclysm The closed beta started June 30, 2010 and ended November 22 2010. Wrath of the Lich King Opt-ins for the public beta began on July 3rd, 2008; the beta began on July 17th. Beta keys were given out to BlizzCon 2007BlizzCon 2007 goodie bag page: and Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2008WWI '08 goodie bag page (XML won't display): attendees and Blizzard also gives out Beta keys to various organizations (fansites, etc.) for promotional reasons.bad link Official Wrath of the Lich King Beta FAQ Wrath of the Lich King beta opt-in Before the Wrath of the Lich King expansion was released, there was a beta opt-in program, where players could add their name to a pool and might get randomly selected to be a beta tester. The Burning Crusade Starting late September of 2006, Blizzard started signing up Closed Beta Test testers for the first expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, from different playing areas. The plan was to introduce additional players to the beta test in subsequent waves, thus people that didn't make it in the starting lineup still had a chance at a Burning Crusade beta spot prior to launch. The Closed Beta started in early October 2006. They were split into two servers: #Hellfire (PvE) #Blade's Edge (PvP) No open beta for Burning Crusade There were no plans for an Open Beta Trial of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. World of Warcraft Starting before March of 2004, Blizzard started signing up Closed Beta Test testers from an unknown pool of people using an undisclosed method of selection. The Closed Beta Trial ran for about 7 months ending in more widely available stress test and then an open beta before final release around the end of November 2004. The "Closed Beta" was the first phase of Blizzard's stress test. There were three servers and virtually no lag existed. This closed beta is also known as the "First Stress Test". The servers were split up into the following: #PvE Server (Original Closed Beta Server) #PvP Server (Added near the end of Closed Beta) #Beta Server 1 World of Warcraft Free Open Beta From Blizzard Insider, Issue #20: ;World of Warcraft® Free Open Beta Set to Begin by November 8th! By November 8th, the fog of war will be lifted and Blizzard will invite thousands of North American gamers to take a free tour of the epic World of Warcraft. This will be the final stage of testing for the massive online world before it ships to stores in the U.S. and Canada for a November 23, 2004 Street Date. Willing adventurers can download the World of Warcraft Open Beta by visiting https://signup.worldofwarcraft.com. The official start date of the Open Beta will be announced on www.worldofwarcraft.com, so stay tuned for additional information. Players who want to get an early jump on the action can sign up for the World of Warcraft Final Stress Test which began on November 1st. Final Stress Test players will be able to carry over their characters into the Free Open Beta. There are limited spaces available for the Final Stress Test and you must be a FilePlanet member to participate. For more information on how to sign up for the World of Warcraft Final Stress Test, or on how to become a FilePlanet member, click www.fileplanet.com. Spaces for both the Final Stress Test and the Free Open Beta will be given out on a first come, first served basis. So sign up early, and we hope to see you in Azeroth... * Click here to read the Open Beta FAQ. * Go here to sign up for Gamespy's File Planet. From World of Warcraft® Open Beta FAQ: World of Warcraft® Open Beta FAQ ; What is the open beta? :As World of Warcraft gets closer to completion, we need to conduct another phase of beta testing for final balancing and bug fixing. This phase of testing is the open beta. Many final aspects of the game are being implemented in their most complete form in the open beta, and we will need this time to test these elements as rigorously as possible to ensure that they are completed for the game's launch. ; Will you charge people to play the open beta? :No, the World of Warcraft open beta is absolutely free. Blizzard is not charging a fee for you to play the open beta. ; Will I have full access to the World of Warcraft game? :Since our goal is to have as much of the game balanced and tested as possible, you will be able to play the most current version of World of Warcraft. However, because the game is still being optimized, you may experience some lag and performance issues. Please bear with us and remember that although you will be playing a version that seems very polished and complete, it is in fact a beta and will not always play optimally. ; Do I have to play in the final stress test if I want to play the open beta? :No, you do not have to play in the final stress test to participate in the open beta. However, if you wish to play in the open beta, you will have to wait until its start is announced, and then visit www.worldofwarcraft.com to begin downloading the open beta client and creating an open beta account. ; I don't want to sign up for the final stress test. Can I sign up for the open beta now instead? :Once the open beta starts, Blizzard will make an announcement on www.worldofwarcraft.com. At that time, you will you be able to download the World of Warcraft client and begin the account creation process. Once that is completed, you can start playing the open beta. ; How is the open beta different from the final stress test? :The open beta will begin after the conclusion of the final stress test and will be the most complete version of the game available to date. It will include the content from the closed beta and final stress test, as well as additional features that are slated to appear in the final version of World of Warcraft. ; Do I need to go through FilePlanet to get into the open beta? :FilePlanet does indeed have a role in hosting the open beta, and it has a number of open beta accounts to award. However, the majority of open beta accounts will be distributed by Blizzard directly. Once FilePlanet's accounts are given away, all further accounts will be awarded only through Blizzard. So, if you visit FilePlanet and are told that no more open beta accounts are available there, please go to www.worldofwarcraft.com to secure your open beta slot. ; Do I have to be a FilePlanet subscriber to sign up for the open beta at FilePlanet? :No. Anyone with an Internet connection in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States can visit FilePlanet or Blizzard on the day the open beta begins to try to acquire an open beta account. Please note that FilePlanet has a number of open beta accounts to award, but if it exhausts its allotment of keys, you will still be able to visit www.worldofwarcraft.com for a chance to join the open beta. ; If I was in the stress test beta, will I get to reuse my old account and characters? :Because we are testing a new version of the game and account-creation process, we will need you to create a new account and new characters to play in the final stress test. Additionally, because the final stress test is a new version of the game, all accounts and characters from the first stress test beta would have been incompatible with the final stress test and were thus deleted. ; If I am in the final stress test, will I get to transfer my account and characters from there to the open beta? :Yes, you will be able to use your account and characters in the open beta. You do not need to take any action. Instead, when the final stress test ends, you will be able to continue playing by logging in to the open beta servers. ; Will I get to keep my characters from the open beta? :We are still formulating our plans for the characters from the open beta and will provide more information in the near future. ; When does the open beta start? :The open beta will begin immediately after the final stress test ends. An exact date is undetermined at this time; however, we expect the open beta to begin approximately five to seven days after the start of the final stress test. ; What do I do exactly to get started in the open beta? :Once the open beta starts, visit www.worldofwarcraft.com for further instructions and information on the open beta. ; How do I get the open beta if I signed up through FilePlanet? :If you go to FilePlanet to sign up for the open beta when it begins, you will be given an authtentication key and instructions to download the World of Warcraft client from FilePlanet. Please note that FilePlanet has a limited number of keys to award. ; What do I do after I download the World of Warcraft client? :After you install World of Warcraft onto your computer, launch the program to be taken to the account-creation site. During the account-creation process, you will be prompted to enter the authentication key that will have been provided to you. After you successfully create your account, you can re-launch World of Warcraft and begin playing in the open beta. ; How long will you leave the World of Warcraft client up for download? :Once we have achieved the maximum number of players for the open beta, we will remove World of Warcraft from download. So, if you wish to play in the open beta, we recommend that you download the client and create an account as soon as the open beta begins. After we have reached the maximum server population we need, we will no longer be accepting people into the World of Warcraft open beta. ; Will there be a limit to the number of people who can play the World of Warcraft open beta? :Yes, we will have to limit the number of players. However, a maximum number of players has not yet been determined. At this time, we simply recommend that if you wish to play in the open beta that you download the game and create an account as soon as the open beta is ready. Once we fill our servers to capacity, we will remove the World of Warcraft downloader and account-creation pages. ; How will I know if I get into the open beta? :If you can download the client and create an account, then you are in the World of Warcraft open beta. After creating an account, you must enter the account name and password you had chosen during the account creation process at the World of Warcraft login screen to play the game. ; How long will the open beta last? :There is no predetermined duration for the World of Warcraft open beta. As long as we need to conduct further testing, we will maintain the open beta. ; Will I be able to start playing right away? :Yes. When we announce the beginning of the open beta, you will be able to download the game immediately. After creating an account, you will be able to play World of Warcraft. ; Will I need to connect to the Internet to play? :Yes, you need to connect to the Internet to take part in the World of Warcraft open beta. ; Will there be a Mac version of the open beta available? :Yes. The final stress test and open beta test are for both Mac and PC users. ; Who can participate in the final stress test and open beta test? :The final stress test and open beta are available for players in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. ; Why can't players in other countries participate in the final stress test and open beta test? :The final stress test and open beta test are being conducted for the North American launch servers. We will eventually be conducting open beta tests in Europe and other regions in which we have announced the game's upcoming availability. ; I'm having issues with the Blizzard downloader. Whom do I contact? :If you have issues with the Blizzard downloader, please visit the tech support page at www.worldofwarcraft.com/support. ; I'm having issues with the game. Whom do I contact? :Please use the support options located at www.worldofwarcraft.com/support. ; What are the system requirements? :;Windows® System 98/ME/2000/XP OS: ::800 MHz or higher CPU. ::256 MB or more of RAM. ::32 MB 3D graphics card with hardware Transform and Lighting, such as GeForce 2 or better. ::4 GB or more of available hard drive space. ::DirectX® 9.0c or above. ::A 56k or higher modem with an Internet connection. :;Mac® System OS X 10.3.5 OS: ::933 MHz or higher G4 or G5 processor. ::512 MB RAM or higher. DDR RAM recommended. ::ATI or NVIDIA video hardware with 32 MB VRAM or more. ::4 GB or more of available hard drive space. ::MacOS X 10.3.5 or newer. ::A 56k or higher modem with an Internet connection. References See also * BTR (Beta test realm) * Public client builds * Test realm ; β * Patch 6.0.1 * WoWWiki:Warlords of Draenor beta contacts ; β * Patch 5.0.1 * WoWWiki:Mists of Pandaria beta contacts External links ;General Beta info ; Beta ; Beta ; Beta May 24th 2012 at 5:45PM}} May 3rd 2012 at 8:00PM}} Machkhan 4/19/2012 5:33 PM, Updated on 4/19/12 5:36 PM (PDT)}} Eldacar on 4/24/12 4:36 PM (PDT)}} Bluspacecow, 7/15/12 7:15 AM}} ; News Jun 27th 2012 at 7:00PM}} Ghostcrawler, 5/4/12 5:01 PM}} Apr 20th 2012 at 8:00PM}} Apr 9th 2012 at 7:00PM}} Apr 9th 2012 at 2:00PM}} Apr 6th 2012 at 2:00PM}} Mar 28th 2012 at 12:00PM}} Mar 25th 2012 at 1:00PM}} Mar 24th 2012 at 3:00PM}} Mar 22nd 2012 at 4:00PM}} Category:Game terms Category:Glossary Category:World of Warcraft beta